Got an online quote and ref. no. on Thurs evening 26th to insure a second car on Sat 28th. Didn't accept immediately, but recovered the quote in order to accept on Fri night 27th. On recovering the quote it was noticed the monthly payments had increased marginaly.

Querying this on twitter I was informed "Hi, our prices are subject to real time pricing which can re-rate the policy. The best thing to do is call 0800 001066 and quote the reference to our sales team in check for you. Hope this helps, their open until 9pm this evening, Sj".

Called the number given at around 19:30 and was left listening to muzak and apologies for the delay due to high call volume for around 40 mins. As the phone started indicating low battery I gave up and went ahead and followed through with the online quote not wanting to risk phone delays when collecting the car in the morning.

So was the original quote in fact only an estimate?

Normally Car Insurance quotes are valid for 30 days.

If this was done via a comparison site, you need to contact the comparison site, who will ensure the original quote is applied. Or if directly with Hastings, you will have to make a complaint and they will be able to check the original quote which they should honour if no details were changed.

Because Insurers now use real time pricing, if you go into a previous quote to check the information, it will often run it as a new quote. You would have to go directly to the buy the policy/pay option and then the original premium should be held. Most people would check the information again before buying, so I should imagine many experience a change to the original premium quotes.

Thanks for the reply.

As an existing customer requiring 2nd car cover, I applied directly on Hastings' site. No changes were made to the original details submitted. As previously mentioned the difference was marginal amounting to about £9 overall, but as mum used to say, "Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves".

Edit: The difference was noticed immediately on recovering the quote; before following through and making the purchase.

Hi,

Thanks for sharing your experience, I'd firstly like to apologise for the long call queue that you experienced, we've been working very hard to reduce this sudden spike over the weekend. With regards to quotations, we explain on the site that the prices can fluctuate daily and are not held for any length of time. What is stored however, are the details that you've entered so we can recall them later when you want another quote for convenience. I'm sorry that your offer increased - it may because some insurers offer an 'early purchase discount' which lessens incrementally. If you're pleased with a price given online I generally recommend a purchase as soon as you're able - this applies to many types of other comparison websites you might also use.

I hope that I've helped make the process a little clearer but if you've got any other questions I'm happy to help.

Regards,

Joe

Interesting as the quote's from the comparison sites appear to be valid for 30 days.